Next time you head to Highland Village in Jackson to shop, check out a new seasonal pop-up shop.

The Holiday Cheer Store is now open next to Cook & Love Shoes.

A collaboration of Sugar Ray’s Sweet Shop and Louis LeFleur’s Trading Post from the Mississippi Children’s Museum, the Holiday Cheer Store specializes in candies and sweets and toys from classic to trendy.

Louis LeFleur’s Trading Post was so happy about the success of its holiday pop-up last year that it contacted Highland Village about returning for a second year and the center put it in touch with Sugar Ray’s, said Masa Liles, general manager at Highland Village.

“We think it is the ultimate holiday store,” she said.

The collaboration offers Sugar Ray’s, which is located at 224 W. Capitol St. across from the King Edward Hotel in downtown Jackson, the opportunity to try on Highland Village for fit.

“This is our first time for doing a storefront with the Children’s Museum,” said Jessica Davenport, managing partner of the Sugar Ray’s location in the Holiday Cheer Store.

“This store represents happiness. You can’t come in here without being happy once you see the candy and all of the toys.”

The store features a large white Christmas tree covered in ornaments that look like doughnuts, ice cream cones and other delights. Shelves loaded with plush animals are interspersed with gift-size containers filled with candies such as Jelly Belly jellybeans.

“This is a little different from our downtown store because here we pre-package some of our candy,” Davenport said. “We’ve got Jelly Bellies in test tubes and drink cans, so a shopper can come in and easily purchase something sweet for a present, pick out something for a stocking or just buy a small happy.”

The store also stocks old-fashioned whirly pop suckers and unicorn pops, both of which are big hits with youngsters, she said. Also available are gummy worms and gummy bears, candy truffles in flavors such as birthday cake and lemon drop and throwback candies such as Lemonheads.

Davenport said she hopes Sugar Ray’s location in the Holiday Cheer Store will put shoppers in the holiday spirit and spread the word about its downtown location.

Also open at Highland Village is the Christmas boutique, Jingle.

Fran and Alan Weeks, who own Turkoyz jewelry store and Turkoyz at Home at Highland Village and OPTIONS at the Outlets of Mississippi, have opened Jingle for the second year.

Located across from Turkoyz, Jingle is in a location larger than the one it had last year. It offers a variety of Christmas ornaments, candles, trees, wreaths and foliage, Santa and reindeer figurines and other holiday décor.

Jingle opened in mid-October and — yes — shoppers began at that time making purchases for the holidays, Liles said. “I was shocked people were buying that early,” she said.

The pop-ups boost local small businesses by helping them expand, gain new customers and grow their brands, Liles said.

The pop-up shops, which will remain open until a week or two after Christmas, keep the center fresh and relevant and provide shoppers something unexpected, Liles said.

“They energize the center during the holidays,” she said. “It gives people who regularly shop here something new. It adds that element of surprise."

Also planned at Highland Village to put shoppers in the holiday spirit are these two events:

FAM Friday Jingle and Mingle open house on Dec. 8 from 5-7 p.m. Retailers will offer discounts, refreshments and there will be live music, ‘Selfies with Elfies’ and ‘Story Time with Santa.’

Santa Claus himself will make appearances Nov. 17 through Dec. 23 at the center in the plaza next to Beagle Bagel and will be available for formal photos with children on Fridays and Sundays from 1-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The cost is $39.95 per family, which provides an SD card with all of the photos, so a family can make unlimited prints and distribute the Santa pictures electronically.